The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State has a new acting chairman.
Joseph Fafi takes over following the suspension of the pioneer chair, Chief Tiwe Oruminighe.
Oruminighe, the party’s Deputy Chairman, Eddy Julius and Secretary, Marlin Daniel, were suspended for taking members of the party who challenged their leadership to court against the constitution of APC.
The disciplinary action created tension in the state and forced security agencies to take over secretariat of the party in Yenagoa, the state capital.
It was gathered the party picked Fafi, who serves as the Vice-Chairman Central Senatorial District on the State Executive Committee (SEC) to fill the vacuum created by Oruminighe’s suspension.
Fafi is said to be the oldest among the three senatorial vice-chairmen on the committee.
Already, most party members were in high spirits and said to be jubilating over the choice of Fafi.
It was learnt that prior to suspension of Oruminighe and others, members of SEC held several meetings declaring confidence in Fafi.
Fafi’s name, it was learnt, had been submitted to the National Headquarters of the party in Abuja.
Sources said Fafi may collect a confirmation letter from the party’s headquarters on Monday, empowering him to take over the state’s secretariat of the party.
The police and the Department of State Security (DSS) had said they would only open the secretariat upon receipt of letter from anybody confirmed as the leader of the party.
It was also gathered Oruminighe might not return as chairman, following plans by the National Working Committee (NEC) to uphold the suspension.
“He might even be expelled. But if he escapes expulsion, he may return as an ordinary member of the party if he wishes.
“There is no way the NEC will not ratify the punishment,” a source who spoke in confidence said.
But Oruminighe insisted that the NWC did not issue a direct order suspending him adding that the committee only scolded them for taking a faction of the party to court.
He said: “What I understand from the pronunciation they are banking on is not what the national said.
“The national was trying to say that nobody should take the party to court.
“On the other hand as a chairman of the party, some group of persons claimed that they suspended us.
“What we did was to take an injunction to stop the group of persons parading themselves.
“We stopped Fafi from parading himself and the court pronounced us the authentic leaders of the party. That is the misunderstanding you hear”.